Tamer
by InspiredByOrdinary
Summary: Briar is a new recruit of the team, after Tony decides that he could do with a few extra powered people at hand and hacks the S.H.I.E.L.D database for his own personal superhero linkedin, she ends up on his doorstep with a sketchbook, suitcase, and body covered in moving, magical tattoos. Oc x Loki (soulmate Au Misgardians are the only ones without soulmates)
1. Chapter 1

Tony stark was tired. Not the sort of tired that we all feel, the tugging at your eyelids- itchy and dry, fatigue, but the sort of tired that only comes from being hailed as a superhero. And despite what everyone thought, he was getting sick of it.

"JARVIS?" Tony asked, running an open hand over his face, catching on his stubble and then dropping it to his lap as he spun in his chair, still fiddling with his other hand which was holding the parts to his latest invention. I'd tell you what it was a part to, but not even Tony himself knows yet.

"Yes Mr Stark?" Jarvis's dry voice came from the nebulous space of the room, echoing around the workspace like a tin can phone.

"What's the status on the newest recruits?"

"Sir you asked me that five minutes ago,"

"And now I'm asking you again,"

The AI gave a sort of virtual sigh, it was more of a silence then an exhale, (considering that he had no lungs, nor a use for them) but it got his point across quite succinctly.

Tony sighed too, and despite it being a more traditional sort, if one listened closely enough you could hear the resemblance.

"Ok, I'm going to..." Tony looked around the trashed workspace, noting Dum-e whirling about with a broom, and its absolute lack of effect. He started to stand, but before his legs extended to their full length he slackened back into his chair, his spine bending in on itself as he tipped his head back and closed his eyes. "Maybe ill just go to sleep,"

"That sounds like the best plan Sir, I know you where hoping that one of the suspected candidates would appear but it seems they all aren't interested, perhaps-" the AI suddenly paused, his smooth speech screeching hing to a halt in such a way that his last word hung in the air like an unanswered prear.

Tony Stark looked up from his chair.

"Sir it seems someone decided to come after all." JARVIS began almost seeming put out.

"Great! When did they say they would come? We could offer the jet, get em here a little quicker, god knows Cap needs a new trainee to focus on-"

"Sir they are outside now." JARVIS interrupted, halting Tony's little rant and causing hin to snap to his feet, speed walking in the direction of the door quicker then hed ever walked to meet someone in his life. So was the difficulties of a serial saunterer.

As Tony headed for the front door, (a lengthy process considering Avengers tower was larger than your average apartment block, or perhaps even then your average billionaires extravagant home) JARVIS took it upon himself to wake the rest of the avengers.

Tony reached the elevator and pounded the button for the ground floor as quickly as he was through the doors, wiping his hands on his tracksuit bottoms. Perhaps he should have taken the time to change into the better half of his wardrobe, but, he mused, if this all worked out then the newest member of the team would come to expect nothing better from Tony then his oil covered PJ's anyway.

"Are you sure you should do this sir?" Jarvis asked tentatively, his smooth robotic voice giving the intonation that if he was stood beside Tony his eyes would have been darting from side to side in nervousness.

"You asked me that when I hacked into SHIELD again for the files on all their watch list," Tony noted as he glared at the doors of the elevator, willing the machine to work quicker and resolving to either find a way to speed it up or install a fire pole.

"Yes sir but-" JARVIS was cut short as the doors opened and Tony walked out, coming face to face with a young woman who he had only seen in photos prior, and found that the photos did her no justice.

The woman was relatively young, her hair was brown and long, resting in natural waves on her shoulders, it was mostly brushed, but a good portion of baby hair stuck up on the right side of her head making her look like she had just been dragged through a hedge. She smiled widely, and her girly dress was fashionable and trendy in an almost unremarkable way, she was neither particularly fat or thin, and was only slightly on the short side.

All in all she looked every bit a normal average joe, except for the tattoos.

Covering every inch of skin other then her face was detailed black ink work, thin flowing lines that coated every creamy centimetre and shifted slowly, like the lines where anxious to move, and jump from her body. Tony's eyes where drawn to a tiger that was slowly making its way across her collar bones, flicking its tail from side to side before opening its massive maw and hissing.

"I hear you're hiring, any chance I can drop in my Cv?" The woman asked with a teasing, but not unkind tone. Her smile was wide and it crinkled her eyes almost shut.

"I suppose I could take a look, got any references? Allergies? Aversion to working in hazardous conditions?" Tony reeled off, his eyes still flicking to her moving tattoo's every now and again but making every effort to look her directly in the eyes.

"Not unless my primary school teacher counts, no, and according to most people I am a hazardous condition," she said, her smile never wavering. She reached out a hand to shake, and Tony noticed a dragon head with piercing eyes staring up at him from the back of her hand. "I'm Briar, nice to meet you Mr Stark!"

"So, you're here for the job as an avenger huh? And call me Tony,"

"Yeah, I could do with one of those job things, considering the price of rent in this city, and the surprising lack of job opportunities for a trained illustrator, its like NYC has something against beauty,"

"It'll be dangerous"

"So I hear. Don't need to worry about me though boss, I'm an absolute coward so I'll make sure to save my skin and yours while I'm at it."

"Confident huh?" Tony's grin widened.

"I've learnt never to underestimate the luck of an idiot Tony, it's kept me alive this long,"

"I'm sure your powers have something to do with it?" He said, nodding to her moving tattoos.

Before Briar could answer the doors to the elevator dinged and out barrelled about six foot three of righteous American muscle wrapped up in star spangled jammies and rubbing sleep from his eyes. Which was to be expected at the late (or perhaps early, depending on how you feel about certain semantics) hour, however a resident of the tower could tell you that Steve was in bed 10pm sharp every evening without fail.

"Tony!" Steve shouted as he caught up to the pair, who where looking over at him with two distinctly difference expressions.

One, a resigned confusion as he figured JARVIS, his AI with all the mothering capabilities of a hen had called the good ol relic down, and Briar, who was looking distinctly like she had been told she had won the lottery but the few million she was due was actually to be paid in vegetables rather then the preferred sort of greenery.

"Yes Steve dear?" Tony drawled, his eyes flicking over Steve from top to bottom before making eye contact, lazy and slow.

"You know what," he said, bristling as he straightened up under Tony's gaze. Despite the two men coming to an agreement and even living together their personalities where chalk and cheese, and Steve couldn't help but let his fur be ruffled like a cat spotting a particularly mangy dog when Tony levelled him with that calmly challenging stare.

"Steve, I simply have no clue what you are talking about, why would you want to talk to me so late at night!?..." Tony trailed off as he spun round dramatically, his eyes widening as they set on Briar, as is he had never seen her before in his life. "Oh! You aren't here to tell me off about Briar here are you? It would be terribly rude to send a sweet young girl off out into the night by herself wouldn't it? How old are you again Briar?"

"20"

"See?" Tony looked at Steve with the disappointed frown of a mother, it was so uncanny that Briar took a second to check her mental folder on Tony Stark and confirm that he did not have any children, and therefore could not in fact be a fifty year old mother of three.

"You KNOW thats not why I was pulled out of bed at three am Tony," Steve replied with a huff, before making eye contact with Briar and wincing, giving her a soft smile and a mumbled sorry before his face going hard again as he stared at Tony.

"You where pulled out of bed because my Ai is a little snitch," Tony said, crossing his arms and tilting his chin away defiantly.

"Tony..."

"Ok so maybe she isn't just a cute little 20 year old."

"Tony,"

"She might have some powers..."

"Tony!"

"And I might not be 100% sure what they are."

"TONY!"

"I'm sorry! You just keep moping about the tower, you never leave, and then say its because we don't have time to goof off because 'the world needs us and I am a pillar of justice and truth' so I thought I'd bring in a little fresh meat!"

"Yes, I have in fact just been hired as the official butcher for the Avengers! How do you like your steak Steve? Careful mind, theres a wrong answer!" Briar said brightly, her finger pointing at the ceiling with an air of discipline offset by her grin.

Steve blinked. Briar wiped her face with her hand and dropped her bag on the floor, promptly sitting down with it.

"Ok go on, hash it out, I can just wait here on the cold hard floor after travelling all this way so late at night," Briar dramatically lamented, falling flat on her back and slapping the back of her hand over her eyes, waiting a second before peeping over it to see if it had worked.

Luckily it had. Steve, while not being an idiot and fully understanding she was playing him like a fiddle, really wanted some sleep, and also realised she looked like she could do with some.

"Oh fine, Tony put her up inna room and we'll go over it all tomorrow!" He said before turning on his heel and walking to the elevator again.

"Oh you break my heart Steve, but I love to watch you leave!" Briar called.

Tony snickered.

Steve sighed, and smacked the right button for the Avengers floor without waiting for Tony or Briar.

And then, in the privacy of the elevator, promptly flushed bright red.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi guys here's chapter two, leave a reveiw with what you think I check the reveiw page far too much instead of writing! i'll keep adding to this story when I get the chance and feel like it!**

Getting Briar to bed was a bit of a mission all of it's own apparently, as Tony found out anout thirty minuites after Steve's quick departure. (None of the other Avengers came down to see what the cat, or billionaire, had dragged in dispite Jarvis's nagging tone, considering the two resident assassins had just gotten back from a job and reminded Jarvis they knew whwre his cuircuts where kept, Thor was off world, and Bruce knew that if the situation called for a jolly green he would have gotten a lot more then a pissy robot butler in his ear)

Tony, for all his satiric grumbling about 'kids these days' was overjoyed when Briar started pulling out bits of tech and checking them over from her bag, putting them on the bed and then outting them away. He was even more intruiged when she put a pile of sketchbooks as thick as an enclopedia on her nightstand.

He picked one up and flicked through it, with no complaint from Briar as she marveled over the ensuite bedroom she had been provided, and thanking him again and again as she checked out all the emenities, even jumping on the bed a couple times.

She was shocked to find out that this was just a 'craptastic guest room' as Tony put it, and that he'd move her into a nicer one in the morning when the team had met her and where happy with her being on their floor, and then again if everything worked out so she could have her own permanent place in the tower.

After that admission Briar was even more extatic, ranting about this that and the other, to which Tony barely paid attention as he han his eyes over her beautiful realistic drawings.

"Do you like them?" Briar asked, clasping her hands behind her back and tilting her entire torso foward from Tony's left side, peeking at what exactly he was looking at.

"I think you had a great subject matter," Tomy deadpanned, holding the sketch up so it was next to his face, the warm smirk in his eyes peering at her both in flesh and in graphite.

"Oh sorry about that, I like to keep my hands busy, lots'a waiting around during traveling, decided if I was gonna meet ya I should see what you looked like, got a picture off google... you have a kind face Tony." Briar said, her face and manner both flippant and candid, making Tony falter for a second, during which Briar grabbed the pad and ripped the page out, checking the back and grinning.

She swept a hand over it, clearing it of imaginary eraser marks, and pulled a pencil from her pocket, signing it with a flourish and handing it to Tony.

"It's for me?" He asked, surprised at the gesture.

"Sorry about the quality, don't worry though, Itll be worth thousands when i'm famous, mabye you could sell it and pay off some debts?" Briar said with a grin.

After that Tony bid her goodnight, and diddnt see her till the morning, when he knocked on her door with the entire team of super idiots in tow. (Excluding Thor of course)

Tony's hand had barely begun moving away from the door after knocking when Briar tumbled out, backpack on, hair wild around her face, and a huge grin.

"Hyiah gang!" She greeted, waving at the group in front of her face, earning an exasperated look from Steve, an eyebrow quirk from Nat, and a half hearted and confused wave from Doc.

"So kid, I think the team wants you to sing for your supper, we want you to show us what you've got," Tony said, leaning against the wall.

Briar nodded and started screwing up her face, biting her lip and pulling at her clothes like she was looking for something.

"Woah woah!" Bruce called, his hand darting out to grab her wrist as she pulled up the hem of her shirt. "Mabye we shouldn't test it in the corridoor?"

"Oh yeah," Briar said, looking embarrassed and deflated for a second, toing the ground with her sneaker before Tony pointed out the way to the room they could use, and she took off running in the direction.

By the time they got there, Tony and Bruce and Clint where out of breath, and even Steve and Nat where looking ruffled, she ran a lot faster then she looked.

"This is it babe, in you go!" Tony said, pulling a large metal door open for her to step inside. She did so without hesitation, but paused and looked behind her when she noticed that none of them followed her in.

"I think its best if we observe from behind the glass," Steve explained at her almost sad expression.

"Oh ok, so, if I pass this I get to be one of you guys right?" She asked, her eyes wide and shining.

"Lets not get ahead of ourselves," Nat said, not unkindly.

"You'd need to be pretty impressive to get a permenant spot on the team, you might get the opportunity to be an agent though!" Clint said, trying to soften the blow. He knew the rest of the team wherent exactly in the market for new recruits, and sent a sharp look to Tony for bringing the poor girl here and getting her hopes up.

"I need to be impressive? Ok, one order of knock your socks off coming right up! Shut the door!" Briar said, puffing her chest up.

The team did what she said and closed the door, stepping behind the glass so they could watch what she was about to do.

"Ten bucks on super speed" Clint said to nobody in perticular, his eyes fixed on the girl in the centre of the room who was stretching like an olympic atlete (she was nowhere near as in shape or needed that much stretching, but performing for a group of superheros is a lot of pressure)

"Really? Its gotta be something about those tattoo's," Tony snorted, getting a shussh from Bruce and Nat as they sat in silence waiting for her to begin.

"Mabye she can fly," Steve said absently, before looking at the deadpann glare he got and shutting his mouth.

Briar sucked a breath in, and pulled her hands out away from her, looking at the skin of her arms, frowning and shaking her head while muttering she began to take off her trouser to the protest of at least half the Avengers (not that she could hear them as they where in a soundproof room).

The team stood in awe as they watched her shifting tattoos, some an inky black and some so light you could barely see them. Briar ran a quick hand down her leg, pausing, looking up into the glass and making direct eye contact with Tony who's eyes where already wide as saucers, giving him a huge grin.

Then she slapped her hand down on one of the lightest marks.

And a dragon erupted into the room.

Its scales an inky black, melting into a deep purple in places it roared at the glass, its mouth opening wide and a small flame building at the back of its throat before a sharp noise came from Briar, who held out a hand.

The dragon promptly put its chin in her palm, and nosed at her arm, to which she gave the great beast a cuddle, then jumped astride its back. She looked at the space in the room, deciding that she needed more to impress earth's mightiest hero's.

"Mind letting me out? Difficult to fly in a sardine can!" She yelled, getting a manic grin from Tony.

"Can I join ya?" He asked, calling the suit to him with his bracelets and hitting a button on the console that removed the back wall of the room, letting it open to the elements. He tended to use this room as a launchpad or training room for the suits and Thor when he was here.

"If you can keep up!" She called, nudging her sneakers into the sides of the dragon and launching into the sky, whooping and hollering as she went.

"Definitely not super speed," Clint said, his eyes wide.

"Technically she is flying," Steve said, smugly crossing his arms over one another.

Tony flew after her in the suit, marvelling at the beauty of the entirely real looking dragon

He swooped as close as he could get to the beast as it hared through the sky, climbing higher and higher with every second. Once it broke the clouds Briar waved for Tony's attention and then furrowed her brow. The dragon opened its mouth and spewed flame in front of it, pouring sheets of white hot fire into the horizon. Tony felt the heat of the inferno through the suit.

Briar quickly rubbed her thumb over a small dark mark on her arm, and suddenly Tony felt a heat in the same place under the suit. Worried he reached to check it before he heard a familiar voice inside his head.

"Don't worry, that was me, i'll show you in the lab... did I get the gig or should I do a few more laps?" She asked with a cheeky grin, spurring the beast to do a loop de loop to prove her point.

Tony gave a tired nod, and they both landed back into the tower. Tony felt the warmth again and suddenly realised the little dark mark that had disappeared from Briar's arm had once again reappeared on her skin.

"So..." Briar said, slipping off the back of the dragon and giving it a sweet kiss on the side of its face before turning to the rest of the avengers in the control room.

"So indeed," mumbled Banner under his breath as he stepped out of the room, his footsteps halting and cautious as he peered at the great beast. He removed his glasses and gave them a quick polish before putting them back on and peering again, as if he could polish away the distance without getting closer the the large amount of teeth.

"You can come closer if you want Doc, I promise he wont bite," Briar said seriously, putting a hand on the snout of the great thing and pushing his head away like one would a rather large and overbearing pet dog.

"How does your... relationship with him work? Does he obey you?" Banner asked as he thought over the idea of making up some ground between them.

"Huh, I guess it's like... having a wild animal as a pet? He is pretty smart, he thinks for himself and all that, but he obeys be because-" Briar looked over at the dragon and met eyes with it. The thing snorted and let out a little puff of smoke from its nostrils, laying down with a thump and pulling a wing over her, forcing her to sit against its huge warm hide. "Ok he doesn't really obey."

"So maybe I shouldn't get closer," Banner concluded, looking at Tony who was just as enraptured as he was, although the Billionaire was looking slightly more interested in the woman who tamed the beast then the best itself.

"No I promise this useless stack of handbag material wouldn't hurt a hair on your head doc, i'm top dog round here even if he doesn't like to admit it," Briar smirked, pushing at the side of the dragon, which rolled its eyes and gave in, letting itself be pushed onto its back.

That in itself an impressive feat considering the size and weight difference. The imagery was not dissimilar to a child lifting a particularly robust monster truck.

"Like, an alpha?"

"Guess so," Briar looked at the best once more, and a spark of conversation went through them "He says I'm stronger then him. It's why he follows. Pack rules,"

"Stronger then a..." Bruce paused as he thought for a second on what to call the absolute marvel of absurdity he was looking at.

"Its ok doc, you can say dragon, just this once though or else we really will have to revoke your smart guy card. Cant have you thinking every wayward gecko can breathe fire!" Tony grinned as Briar finished speaking.

"Or komodo dragon," Tony chipped in "those things could confuse you, dragon in the name and everything,"

As Tony said that Briar screwed her face up, collapsing in on herself slightly and slowly crouching to the ground. The dragon, which had earlier been lounging around like a house-cat jumped into action, curling itself around her and covering her with its wing, its head pointing at the two men, poised and curled like a cobra.

"Woah," Tony said as the thing moved, taking an involuntary step back. The rest of the Avengers who had been quietly stood behind the glass as the two men talked about the great thing moved into action, rushing behind Banner who was stood in the doorway.

"Don't move," Banner commanded quietly to the group behind him, his voice soft like velvet.

"Banner, we don't need a code green," Steve, who was now quite suddenly the Captain said in a low voice, hard like iron as he put a hand on Banner's shoulder.

"You wont be calling a code anything when this thing burns you to ash. Stay back," Banner said, his voice commanding and hard for once.

Tony in the other side of the room however, had no such voice of reason considering he had disembarked from the suit a few minutes ago, and J.A.R.V.I.S had no protocol for dragon attack.

Tony decided quite quickly that the best way to diffuse the situation was to whip out a move particularly reminiscent of a recent Jurassic Park movie, holding his hand palm out to the beast.

The dragon rumbled, his thunder like noise rolling through its chest and into the soles of the feet of everyone in the room, it narrowed it's eyes at Tony but stayed still.

"Hey if you wanna give him a chin scratch you better do it quick, I'm putting him away in like ten seconds," Brair's squeaky voice sounded from somewhere in the mass of scales and leather.

Against his better judgement Tony did just that.

The nose of the beast was almost uncomfortably warm to the touch, like a hot water bottle freshly filled, without the protective covering on. Tony felt every ridge of scale and leather and gently scratched its chin, its great eyes closed and its body relaxed, and just like that, he turned into nothing.

"Sorry about the scare, as soon as I'm in a spot of pain he goes all caveman on me, god forbid I ever get a headache he'd probably level all of the continental US," Briar gave a giggle from her spot flat on her back on the ground.

"Guess I understand why you are on a national watchlist then," Tony said absently, his hand still hovering where he had it pressed against the dragon but seconds ago.

"Guess so," Briar said, her thigh once again covered in the moving image of a pale dragon, a shade darker then a few minutes ago, and looking particularly pleased.


	3. Chapter 3

Briar wasn't the smartest chip off the old block, nor was she the fastest or the strongest (compared to other superheroes at least) and she quite definitely was not the bravest. She was however, peeticularly good at people.

All throughout her life, despite her middling success in school and unimpressive ability at sports she was picked first, and remembered as a 'good kid' or a 'kind friend'.

So not even getting a call for the interview opportunity for the Avengers initiative kinda pissed her off. At first she wrote it off, who in the hell would want to be fighting for their life anyway? She was better off where she was, carving out a life for herself and helping people around her. She helps plenty she would think as she cooked meals for the homeless shelter and volunteered with kids camping trips. However, there was always that feeling of guilt clawing at the very pit of her stomach.

So she moved on to a completely different tactic of avoidance. Of course, Briar was no one trick pony! She lived in England, theres never any alien attacks here! The Avengers initiative was probably an American run institution, England or Europe most definitely had their own and she was in the watchlist for that one. Yep, the Americans don't even know about her, she was most definitely a national secret.

Can't feel bad about not helping, the Avengers have America covered, its like... stepping on the FBI's turf to get involved right?

Then she got a nicely worded email from Iron man.

It was quite pleasant, she'd give him that. All the papers had liked to scream about his awful behaviour, and bad manners, but the email was written in such a way it would bring any business school to tears with its professional wording. It enquired as to wether Miss would like to perhaps audition for the Avengers, despite her low standing on the international watch list.

There wouldn't even be a probational period of internship it promised if she met their standards.

Fuming, Briar had realised that she now simply had to join the Avengers, it was a matter of pride, and of principle. She'd been asked (despite the rather insulting insinuation that she wouldn't meet the standard) so now she was obligated to turn up and save the world. With great power comes great responsibilty.

And a much greater chance of getting your head blown off, she thought as she travveled the distance to her new home in New York.

"So, not to sound too much like I need the gig or anything, I most definitely have other offers, but am I a confirmed Avenger here? How does the voting system work? Democratic, majority? All or nothing? Electoral college, we are in America after all..." Briar ended the sentence with a slight snort as she was led away from the training floor and towards Dr Banner's lab, the rest of the team following to minimise the possibility of everyone dying accidentally.

"Oh we are a dictatorship," Tony assured her with a sly grin, his brown eyes twinkling as he walked alongside her.

"Democratic systems only Tony. We are in America after all," Steve butted in, sounding both tired with his antics and almost patriotic at the teasing words.

"Which ever, am I in or out?"

"I sure as hell wouldn't want you on the other guys's side, its in for me," Clint chuckled, sauntering somewhere near the back of the pack.

"I vote yes," Natasha said, her sentance ending as abruptly as it started.

"Sure i'll vote for the first time in my life and give it a hell yeah," Tony claimed, making Steve's eyes bug out of his head.

"YOU DONT VOT-"

"What about you big guy? Does Banner get two votes? Does he vote on behalf of the Hulk or do we need to call a code green to allow him his democratic rights? Because I am totally down for it,"

"NO Tony," Steve shut him down.

"I mean he has a point, Hulk is just as much part of the team, what do you think Banner?" Clint puzzled.

"I mean technically Hulk is the Avenger, I'm just hanging out in Tony's house for the free wifi and food," Banner said, his lips quirking up a tiny amount as he led the group.

Silence.

"In that case we definitely need to get the big guy out, I need a clear 100% yes rate!" Briar said excitedly, jogging a few steps ahead of Banner so she could walk backwards and pitch to him as she kept pace.

"Hey that was a joke," Banner explained, trying to sheild himself with his hands as the ball of energy practically whirled at him.

"But.. he is an Avenger right?"

"Not exaclty one thats trusted to make the decisions,"

"Its a vote! Every team member gets a vote right?!"

"You didn't even wait for my vote," a slightly petulanty mumbled sentence came from Steve.

"Is it a no?" Briar asked, suddenly stopping dead in the corridoor and letting half the Avengers walk into her.

"No, it's a yes," Steve sighed. "That was fucking incredible, do you only do Dragons?"

"I can do anything you want," Briar said proudly, thinking over the double meaning for a second and deciding to add a wink in for good measure.

"Anything?" Tony prompted curiously.

Briar clapped her hands together, a dark mark fizzling and then materialising onto her shoulder in the shape of a spider monkey. It chittered and jumped onto Tony's head, plucking at his hair before jumping back to Briar.

"Pretty much? Gotta get it inked first though, and I'm kinda running out of space. Most of them are from mythology, but a couple are regular animals, good for intel or message passing y'know,"

They eventually arrived at the lab, the monkey had been re inked back into her skin, and Bruce was setting up all sorts of gizmo's that looked perversely expensive to Briar's untrained eye.

"So is this like a general checkup?" She hopped up onto the metal table, swinging her legs back and forth.

"Sorta, I tend to take samples from the team when they first join so I can figure out their natural state, it helps me know whats 'normal' for us so its easier to patch you up when you get busted open." Banner said, barely oayu g attention to her as she peered at the other Avengers.

"Normal changes for me..." Briar admitted before narrowing her eyes at the Captian. "Am I part of the team?"

"Why does it matter rught now? You have yes's all round except from Hulk, so unless Fury has something to say about it I dont see why not," Steve replied in a measured tone, his arms crossed over one another.

"It matters because if I am going to tell you everytbi g about what I know I can do I want to have the assurance you guys have my back. The team are a fmaily, you care what happens to eachother," Brair said, her voice slightky smaller then its earlier loud and brash volume.

"Then yes, you're part of the Team," Tony granted with a broad smile. When a unsure look got sent his way by the rest of the team he chuffed. "My tower, my rules. I like her, you guys obviously like her, Fury can suck my dick."

Briar's responding smile was immediate and huge.

"Ok! So basicly I cna make creatues that will obey me appear from the tattoos on my skin, however, the summoning and use of the creatues makes my body progressively weaker until they are returned. I can summon more then one, and depending on the size I can keep them out for a long time without it being a big deal, but thats what happened when I had summoned the dragon for so long, i'm unused to having him off of my skin for so long," Briar explained.

"When you say weaker?" Banner asked curiously, coming to stand at her side.

"With all of my tattoos in place I am enhanced in strength speed and healing, it's pretty difficult to cut me with a knife and for it to stick. But if i where to summon this guy for example-" She pulled the neck of her shirt down to show the pacing form of the huge saber toothed tiger Tony had seen earlier. "I'd be about half as durable, and with the dragon out I'm probably the same strength as a regular person, maybe even a fair bit weaker."

"What was that thing you did up there?" Tony asked, tapping his arm where he had felt the heat.

"Thats a new one to me, I only figured it out recently. I can move my marks to someone elses skin, it works a lot like summoning a creature in terms of energy usage, and it gives them some of the strength sapped from me and opens up a mind link like I have with the beasts I summon. Some specific tattoos can even change the physicality of who they are on like... bigger and sharper teeth for example,"

"You sound like you've got this all under control," Banner said cautiously, reaching out a hand towards her arm, most of her skin was covered in ink, but there where still several large blank expanses for further additions. But he pulled it back at the last second.

"Not all the tattoo's are my doing, some just appeared when I was a child. I learnt quickly," Briar said, her face calm and serene, she noticed Banners hand and smiled, taking it in her own and pressing it to the shifting creature on her bicep.

"Remarkable,"

"So, lets talk about getting you that permanant room, you want a queen sized mattress or a doggie bed?" Tony asked, as Steve hit his forehead with his palm.

"Whatever easiest, I can sleep Ruff," Briar grinned back, before letting it fall into a light frown "that was a joke, please don't get me a doggie bed,"


	4. Chapter 4

**Remember to reveiw if you like the story so far or even if you hate it! It motivates me to write!**

The next few days where a strange sort of calm for the Avengers. There was no mission, no huge saving of the world that needed to happen, and even Clint and Natasha's schedule was free of missions for once. Which left them all trying to slowly get used to the tiny spitfire they just accepted with open arms. Or partially open arms, or maybe just a handshake.

For the first day or so Briar stayed in her room. There wasn't too much in the way of possessions she had brought with her (the cost of baggage on a flight to America was extortionate) so it only took her a few hours to get everything she wanted set out just so.

Then she set about trying to make freinds, starting with her new landlord.

"Hey Tony," Briar called one morning from the top of the stairs leading to the communal kitchen, waving with one arm. She was clad in shorts and a camisole top, and rumpled hair.

"Hey Dr Doolittle," Tony greeted back, leaning against the counter and sipping on a cup of coffee, his hair was a mess too and judging by the oil on his shirt he was already working on something. However judging by the scowl on hus face it wasn't going well.

"So I was thinkin,"

"I'm not sure I like where this is going,"

"You could be right, me thinking is usually a bad thing. I think its one of the signs of the rapture but thats debated amongst scholars,"

"So what is it?"

"How do you feel about me painting the walls of my room? Ill go get the paint and everything and paint it back when I move out?" Briar asked, she felt hesitant asking since Tony was already providing a really nice little apartment for her in the Tower, but looking at the white walls was doing her head in.

"Thats all? Go nuts kid, I was gonna get Pepper to send the interior decorators in at some point so you could make it how you wanted it but if you'd rather paint it yourself go nuts,"

"Nice! Thanks Tony!"

"No probs," Tony mumbled as she sprinted away, probably to go find some other poor unsuspecting soul to bother. He grinned to himself and gave a soft humph before wandering off back in the direction of his lab.

Briar's second mission of the day was a slightly more difficult one. She decided the night before that she was going to try and make an effort with each member of the team, she didn't want to be the weak link anywhere, but the decision of who to start with was a difficult one.

She had thought about going to Tony first. He was clearly the most outgoing member of the team and had been the one to invite her to the tower in the first place, but he was pretty much always busy with something and she wanted to get her living space sorted instead of hanging out in the lab today. Banner was mostly the same way, and decided that he would probably take a bit more coaxing.

The spy's where the most difficult to read, for obvious reasons, so Briar decided in her infinite wisdom it would be best to proposition good ol Steve Rodgers first and foremost. As far as she knew he didn't leave the tower much, and she highly doubted he would be one to let a lady get lost in the city.

At least she hoped so.

"Steve?" Briar knocked on the super soldiers door, a light rap of knuckles against hardwood. She had changed into some light summer clothes, a pretty sundress and cardigan.

Briar heard some shuffling in the room behind the door and after a few long moments a tall figure opened the door, and looked at her in surprise.

"Hiah Steve! Im going out to get some paint for my room, and was wondering if you'd like to tag along? Wouldn't hurt to have a guide with me on my first ever trip out into the bug bad city?" Briar looked at him hopefully, her fingers crossed behind her back as she waited on his reply. If this went badly she was fucked, she had to live with these people for a good long while. Or perhaps a much shorter tenure then she assumed if the Avengers job was anything like it looked on Tv.

"Oh, you want me to come?" Steve asked, rubbing his neck with his hand. He looked shocked for a second not only at the visitor he had but at the very fact she wanted him to come too.

"Of course!"

"Well uh, sure then," Steve said, and continued to stand d in the got a good look under his arm into the apartment and saw how it looked slightly more worn in then her apartment, but not too much more personalised.

"Steve?"

"Yeah Briar?"

"Do you wanna go get ready so we can leave?" She asked as he zoned out in the doorway, causing him to blush and dart back into his room, before coming back out ready to leave.

The morning went well, Briar picked out at least seven different paint colours and bought them all, Steve carrying most of them back to the tower. Briar clutched two in her arms though, stubbornly making sure she did at least some of the heavy lifting.

During the outing she managed to find out that Steve was also artistically inclined, and had his very own sketchbook in his back pocket at all times, which Briar found enthralling.

"Steve how come you're walls are so boring since you have such an eye for art?" Briar enquired, flipping through the pages as she walked, a paint can on each arm. Steve was trying his best to steer her through the street so she didn't bump into anyone as she looked at the pages so intently.

"I just never really bothered I guess," Steve shrugged.

"Didn't wanna put down roots huh," Briar summed up, flicking the page and quirking an eyebrow.

"Thats not it!"

"It isn't?"

"No I'm 100% part of the team!" Steve said. He fidgeted a little with his hands.

"Not saying you aren't Steve, but I don't think you really know the team too much outside of them being the team you know? It wouldn't hurt to make a few friends in the 21st century." Briar snapped the book shut and tucked it back into his back pocket, her eyes on the road suddenly and not on him. "But thats not my business, I could have it all wrong,"

Steve paused for a good few seconds, thinking what she had said over. She wasn't completely right, but she most definitely wasn't wrong either. It took him a good few paces before taking again.

"Maybe we could paint my living room too,"

"Sounds like a bang up idea Steve,"

The rest of the afternoon was spent in a pleasant way. Briar painted her whole flat with Steve, her room was a sunshine yellow and her living room was a sweet blue they covered in constellations. Steve even let her sit on his shoulders so she could paint the ceiling and stick on some glow in the dark stars she had bought at the dollar store to go with the living rooms interesting theme.

That had ended on a particularly high note for Steve who found out despite her completely composed nature on the back of a dragon she was apparently afraid of heights, oxymoron she couldn't even begin to explain to him let alone herself, and had Steve in stitches all afternoon.

They painted her kitchen a sweet orange colour, like a soft sunset, which Steve shyly admitted to being his favourite dolour when Briar caught him looking contemplatingly at the rest of the can. At the news she promptly dragged him back to his flat and painted the living room snd his bedroom fully orange, even working together with him to paint a sunset against the wall of his bedroom with some of the remaining yellow.

"Wow, thanks for the help Steve!" Briar said as they cleaned up, scrubbing the paint off of their arms and putting the still partially full paint cans away into one of her cupboards. "We did a hell of a good job."

"It wasn't a problem Briar, I actually... really had a good time," Steve admitted bashfully, with all the embarrassment of a rough and tumble schoolboy admitting his love of his mother. "Maybe we could do it again sometime,"

"Steve, i'm not sure we have any more walls to paint!" Briar laughed, making Steve go red "but i'd be happy to hang out with you any time, just give me a bell and i'll be there!"

The day ended with Briar making some drinks for them both to sit out on her balcony with (she was very surprised to learn she had one from Steve himself, who laughed at her incredibly excited reaction and immediate rambling about growing plants out there) despite Steve's inability to get drunk he decided he liked the taste of Briar's home made cocktails. Even if they where made with the basic food supplies Tony put in every flat and a bit of pilfered alcohol from the communal cupboard.

Steve had been the one to sneak in and nick it, he was finally putting all that training to good use as Briar said.

The next day was a slightly more calm and sedate one. Briar had decided that the next thing her apartment could use was some blankets, and she knew just the thing to do.

She had been making her own patchwork quilts since she was a teenager, stitching the panels one by one in pretty colours. She had bought the scraps of fabric needed yesterday with Steve, so now she could just sit and work on it.

But who to go to for company?

Briar thought about it for a while as she arranged d all of her things in a neat bag for her to take where ever she was going to end up working, and decided on Banner. He had looked like he needed some company the day they met, and she would be happy to provide it.

"J.A.R.V.I.S?" Briar called out cautiously, eyeing the ceiling.

"Yes? Hello Briar,"

"Could you direct me to Dr Banner's lab? He has a different one from Tony right?"

"Of course Madam, follow the lights,"

"How useful!" Briar followed obediently, her eyes on the floor instead of where she was going, much too fascinated by the lights that appeared to be coming from nowhere in the walls to pay attention to the path she was making.

After a few minutes of walking she arrived in front of a pair of polished chrome doors, which J.A.R.V.I.S informed her was Dr Banner's personal lab, the one he worked in to get away from Tony and his music.

Without a second of hesitation she thanked her robot guide and then strolled in, spotting the Doctor sitting at his table, glasses on the end of his nose as he read through a document, making lazy markings with his pen. He looked up at her and she was reminded in that moment of her father when he was quiet. Despite those moments being few and afar between as he was much more similar to Briar then he was a quiet man, the sunlight streaming in had such a nostalgic quality it caused Briar to smile a slow sweet smile.

"Can I help you?" Banner asked curiously, puzzling over the presence of the newest member of the team in his lab, where not even Tony usually ventured. "All the lab results are still processing, I can give you the full results in a day or so,"

"I was wondering if you wouldn't mind a bit of quiet company? I understand if you don't but I have a little project of my own to work on-" she lifted up her rather full bag to demonstrate. "And I tend to enjoy a little company while I work,"

Banner thought it over. He had tended to isolate himself for the good of others since his accident, and despite the team being perfectly capable of handling his other side, he still did it out of habit.

"I guess that would be ok," Banner nodded and went back to his reading, but he was also carefully watching her out of the corner of his eye.

Briar smiled softly at him and sat on the floor, pulling out fabric and scissors, and setting to work on cutting out the needed pieces for her newest quilt. This one was for her sofa. (She found the black leather much too modern and sticky for her tastes, she preferred something more soft and homely, but was loathe to ask Tony to change it, despite being sure he would.)

While she worked away Bruce watched, enraptured by what she was doing despite its repetitive nature. Briar felt his eyes on her, she always had a sixth sense for when people where looking at her, it tended to make the creatures restless when someone stared. She smiled at her work and let him watch.

"What, what exactly is it you are doing?" He asked, hesitant to break the silence. He knew from his first time meeting her she was more talkative then most and didn't want to provoke her into a torrent of speech, or distract her.

"I'm creating the top of a quilt, arranging the squares, and sewing them together, its going to be for my sofa see?" Briar held up some patterned cotton for him to peruse, the pretty yellow sunflowers stood out and brought a smile to the doctors face.

"Ah I see," he said, and tried to go back to reading.

A few minutes passed.

"So if thats the top what do you do for the bottom?" Banner found himself asking without actually meaning to.

"That would be a layer of filling and then a soft cotton backing, then the fun part comes in,"

"The fun part?"

"I think it's fun at least, you have to stitch the two together with funny patterns."

"Oh,"

They sat in the quiet for a few minutes more, before Banner's curiosity got the better of him again, and he opened his mouth to speak. Briar giggled and cut him off before he could say anything.

"Why don't you come give it a go if you are so interested? I have a spare needle for you to use, and I can always use another set of hands,"

"I'm not exactly the most creatively minded..." Banner said, rubbing the back of his head but glancing at the colourful squares, they reminded him of his time in India, with the bright fabrics people would sell and buy.

"Everyone has a little spark of creativity inside them, and anyway, I wont let you mess it up I promise,"

Banner gave a nervous smile and joined her cross legged on the floor, clutching the fabric and needle like his life depended on it, as a smiling Briar showed him how to stitch the patches together.


	5. Chapter 5

Hi guys! I heard there where a few issues with the formatting of the chapter! I don't know what happened and im really sorry, I just copy and paste it from my notes app and I've never had the issue before! anyway I've reposted it here, so please enjoy reading, and remember to comment!

That was how Natasha found them, both sat cross legged in the dwindling light, telling stories and quietly laughing, heads bent together as they worked on seprate ends of the same blanket, which looked like a beautiful mish mash of colours.

She shut the door quietly and left them both to it, loathe to disrupt such a peaceful looking afternoon, and decided that the newest member of the team wasn't that bad if she could make the cagiest member of their little team sit still with a smile on his face for more then ten minutes without wanting to run for the hills.

Briar slowly got used to life in the tower, and by extension new york. She had conversations with all the team members (bar Thor and the hulk for obvious reasons, a code green would not be conducive to the slow and warm atmosphere she seemed to give off) and noticed that they even seemed so seek her out when she was in the communal living spaces. She slowly built a routine, and ventured into the city everyday to start building up a collection of tools again for her work, and capturing a different moment from the day every evening, sometimes while sat in the communal room and participating in a light chat with one or more teammates, or sometimes completely alone in bed.

Not that any of them would really admit it, but she was growing on the group like a stubborn moss. Unremarkable, she wasn't a shooting star of a person like most of the people they lived with, she was more like the sun, warm and constant. The others where spectacular, creating tech that had never been conceived of, coming back from the dead, fighting their entire lives, they where the sort of stories that only come along once or twice in the billions of people alive, but Briar was happy with her lot. She wanted to be remembered like them, that's why she was there, but she was far from a Captain America.

"Was anybody gonna tell me we had a fucking tourist living in the tower or was I just supposed to figure that out by the postcards alone?" Nick Fury, living up to his name, strode into the team's morning like a raincloud, or a waylaid member of the Matrix cast, Maria Hill trailing behind him fiddling with her phone .

"I mean, it is my tower. Lots of people live here. Should I give you a nice email every-time Jeremy the repair guy stays the night instead of driving home?"

"No, just the fucking international threats,"

"I'm sensing a lot of hostility here, did you miss your yoga session today? You look like you take yoga." Briar quipped from the couch, immediately trying to get some lines down in her sketchbook. She had been at a loss for what to paint today, and she had just found her muse. All leather wrapped, six feet four inches of him.

"Cute, real cute." Fury scowled.

"Man I love this kid." Tony said, wiping an imaginary tear from the corner of his eye.

"So, tall dark and angry how can I help you? Briar asked, absently as she sketched, her eyes flicking from his body to the page like a cat might flick its tail. He noticed she never looked at the same spot twice, her eyes scanning and evaluating.

"You are superfluous to our needs, and i'm not here to talk with you, I'm here to berate Tony, and get rid of you. Because the Avengers have a actual job to do." Fury said pointedly, his eyebrows quirking.

"Hey I got a unanimous vote!"

"Hulk didn't vote," Clint chirped in, sitting crosslegged on the counter as he focused on scooping up some cheerios.

"Fuck! I knew we forgot someone!" Briar cursed, her face screwing into a tight scowl.

"Thor is currently off world." Steve chipped in, nonchalantly chewing on whatever pastry he had picked up on his run.

"This just keeps getting better and better!" Briar threw her hands up and groaned.

"So as an unofficial and unsanctioned member of the avengers you are free go, don't let the door hit you on the way out, yadda yadda yadda, we need the room," Fury finished, flourishing a hand in her direction then pointing at the door.

Briar looked at him with a scowl, then let her face fall a little. She tried not to let on, but she was starting to think this whole, join the superheroes idea was a bad one. Not only was she not called by the actual government, she was most definitely not wanted by then either.

"Hey Fury, you should trust our judgement by now, Briar is a goo-" Steve started trying to defend her, but Briar cut him off, not wanting to be where she was not wanted. None of the others had spoken up, and even Steve was a beat too late in defending her.

"Its alright Steve. Ill go for a walk! Needed some new pencils anyway." Briar gave a cheerful wave to the group and strolled out the door, grabbing her backpack that she left near the door on the way out.

Clint looked at the pencil case full of sharpened pencils on the table and sighed.

"Not cool Fury,"

"You think I give a fuck?" He asked, narrowing his eyes and proceeding to give a short explanation of the current threat and what he wanted the Avengers to do about it. Actual Avengers level threats didn't come in that often, so it was normally only Clint and Natasha that where away on missions with any regularity, and it had been at least a month since their last good scrap.

Briar wandered aimlessly out of the huge double doors into the street, fiddling with the strap of her bag and glancing from side to side. She picked a direction and started walking, shoving earphones in her ears and picking a particularly angsty playlist as she marched down the street.

After an hour of aimless wandering, bus taking, and shop browsing she ended up in Brooklyn, she had managed to do slightly too far in one direction after being waylaid by a trail of interesting junk shops and a craft store where she had picked up a nice little haul of nick nacks she intended to decorate her room with. And even had a nice desk being shipped to the tower. What could she say? She knew consumerism wasn't the best, but her personal style could never be considered minimalist by any stretch, and she tended to stress buy.

The street got quieter as she walked, and despite her headphones being in and blasting music louder then most people could stand she felt some of her tattoo's warming up and getting restless. The tiger was prowling and growling.

"Shhh it's ok calm down," she said, moving one of her hands to take out a headphone and then using it to rub over her heart where the beast had settled into an uneasy stillness.

"You aren't normally like this, whats gotten into you?" Briar pondered under her breath, walking quicker and removing both earphones, placing them in her pocket.

She checked behind herself subtly, and noticed that there was nobody on the street, and it was starting to get dark. Slightly comforted that she was not being followed she headed into the centre of the city, still unnerved and seeking some safety in numbers.

It only took her a few minutes before she realised what had set off her beasts, when a group of people started smashing the windows of a bank.

A flash of red flew past her eyeline and she quickly threw herself back into a crouch, her eyes narrowed as she slunk back into the shadow slightly. She watched the red blur that she could now clearly see as a person in lycra, start to fight the group, but that he was particularly outnumbered.

With a quick hiss she removed her jacket, and slammed her hands down on two marks, twin dire wolves.

These marks where some of the deepest black of the large creatures. They slid from her skin like ink, coming to stand at their impressive seven feet with a snarl. Briar clambered on the back of the black one, nodding to the white one and commanding it to begin as she hid herself in the shaggy fur of the black ones back.

It launched itself forward and began tearing at the shoulder of one man, while the one she was riding subdued another. With these two taken from the fight the person in red wrapped the remaining two in some sort of plastic wire that shot from his wrists. Briar silently signaled for the wolves to drop their prey, and they did so, growling lowly at the heavily bleeding men who looked close to passing out.

"Hey kid, don't remember seeing you at the biweekly superhero meet-up? You freelance or something?" Briar asked, dismissing one of the wolves and signing in relief as she felt it soothe her skin.

"No! I'm uh- I'm sorta like, spider, uh you know?" He said, rubbing the back of his head and fiddling with his arms.

"Huh, guess I don't, hey I don't know what your deal is but if you wanna get outta here before the cops come you better get running kid, imma bounce too, I'm here on a visa!" Briar sent a wink to the kid and slid off the creatures back, giving it a chin scratch before letting him dissolve and pulling her hair down.

"Oh don't worry! I don't run," the kid took a few running steps and then shot his arm out and launched himself into the air "I swing!"

"Damm ok Tarzan," Briar mumbled to herself with a grin on her face as she watched him go.

Hearing the approaching noice of sirens she turned to the bleeding criminals and gave them a quick salute before slinking off down an alleyway and making her way back to the tower.


	6. Chapter 6

By the time Briar actually got back to the tower she was exausted. No scratch that, the was close to dropping onto the godanmmed floor and becoming one of the stains on it.

"Excuse me? I'm sorry but the building is closed, you cant go in there!" A man said, standing guard at the door. There where a couple of cleaners milling about on thr ground level but she saw that he was right.

"Listen, Tony, can I call you Tony? You don't know me, but I live here! Honest! You just go call Mr short and shiny and he'll tell you to let me right on in," then Briar tilted her head and considered what had happened to make her leave that afternoon "or mabye not."

"I'm not called Tony," the man deadpanned, looking Briar over and making quick work of assessing her tattoos and general outfit before deciding that she was not the sort of person he was about to let in late at night.

"Ok Ricky then," Briar tried, opening her hands out in front of her in a placiating gesture.

"Sorry ma'am but you're gonna have to leave, come back in the morning and make an appointment." The man started shooing her towards the door again.

"Listen, I really am one of the Avengers, and I'm about to drop unconscious in like five minutes. Please for the love of god just call upstairs!" Briar said, knowing the fever in her body was going to force her to shut down soon.

"I don't think so," the man said with a shake of his head, his expression was not unkind.

Briar sighed, and sat on the ground close to tears. She opened her phone and flicked to Steve's number, feeling defeated. She couldn't even just come back into the tower on her own, no wonder she wasn't considered part of the team.

She dialled the number, slumping against the wall as the security guy looked on with a watchful and concerned look.

"Steve?... I'm outside, I can't get in." Briar said, her voice small as she spoke into the phone. She curled tighter into herself as she waited for the reply.

"Briar? Are you ok? What happened?" Steve's voice came out of the phone and Briar slumped in relief. He sounded concerned at least, and she stopped forcing herself to stay conscious on pure adrenaline. She could feel herself slipping away slowly.

"I'm about to go... under... please come get me..." Briar's vision faded to black and her body finally slumped completely against the wall, her phone falling away from her face and Steve's voice getting more and more insistant on the reciver.

Steve made his way downstairs without a backwards look to anyone, amd seeing Briar outsdie the glass doors made him speed up, sending a dirty look to the security guard whl was just looking at her.

"Briar? Are you ok? Briar?" Steve asked, gently shaking her shoulder and paling when her head just slumped sideways and she fell to the ground, only stopping from hitting her head as Steve caught her. He gingerly took the phone from her hand and placed it in his back pocket, and hefted her up like you would a sleeping child.

"Wait, you know her?" The security guard asked, looking more and more shocked by the second.

"She lives here!" Steve hissed, before taking a breath and closing his eyes. "She should have clearance, did you check the system?"

"I uh- it's my first day Mr America sir! I uh- oh god" The security guard shuffled and looked anywhere but at the tall blond man and unconcious woman in his arms with a guilty panicked expression.

"Just remember for next time," Steve said with a sigh, turning on his heel and quickly walking her up to the lift which took them to the main floor as requested.

"Her vitals are stable Mr Rodgers," JARVIS confirmed neatly as he waited impatiently in the elevator.

"Thank you" he breathed softly, shuffling her into one arm so he could brush the hair from her face and place his palm on her forehead, feeling for a temperature, and feeling quite lost. He wasn't used to women fainting on him. To be fair he wasn't used to being the one who hadn't fainted.

As Steve stepped out into the foyer, looking at the newly reintroduced God of Thunder and his irritated looking brother he was met with a flurry of movement and fired questions at.

"What happened?" Clint asked, he had been stood next to the lift ever since Fury had informed them of Loki's imminent arrival, keeping his distance as much as possible.

"Not sure, she called me from outside, the doorman wouldn't let her in, I think she fainted?" Steve cradled her slightly closer, her small frame looked particularly fragile as she was completely lifeless, arms and legs swinging as he moved.

"Could it have something to do with her powers?" Bruce asked, curious. He frowned at her, and also took her temperature quickly, which made Steve grin in pride at knowing what to do.

"I wasn't aware you had a new addition to the merry band of idiots?" Loki drawled.

"We have another member?! Excellent!" Thor boomed, grinning from ear to ear "and another maiden as well! She reminds me of the Lady Sif with her long dark hair, I can only hope she fights with the same vigour!"

"She isn't going to be fighting much of anything in that state point-break," Tony pointed out, keeping himself in-between Loki and Thor and the other group, watching for any untoward movement.

"That is true, but perhaps my brother could help? He can do some healing magic I believe, it could be a good first step to gaining your trust." Thor offered, nudging Loki forward with his shoulder. Loki took the blow with a look of surprise then glared back at his brother and smoothing his outfit down.

"I suppose I could help, my healing is rudimentary but good enough to possibly awaken her,"

"No funny business?"

"I highly doubt that would be wise considering the company,"

"Take a crack at it then," Tony allowed, gesturing towards the group and stepping back.

Loki approached, getting a look from all the Avengers members present. Most of them backed away, only Steve who was holding her firm stood his ground, although the good doctor looked as if he wished to stand in opposition.

Loki nodded at the Captain who gave an uneasy nod back, lowering the girl slightly to a comfortable height for Loki to peruse.

As soon as his green eyes hit pale skin everything around him changed.

Her hair, an average brown to the room became to him the richest chocolate, shiny and soft and lush against the Captain's arm. Her pale skin contrasted with the absolute beauty of her moving magical tattoos, something which drew him in even further, not just for their beauty but in curiosity of the power behind them.

He looked upon her face and his breath caught in his throat, he felt his eyes welling up for a second before pushing the emotion down, laying one long fingered hand on her round cheek, feeling her warmth against his cold for the first time was like feeling a coat wrap around his frostbitten body. He felt like a man who had never known shade and as if he was finding an oasis in a desert all at once.

"What's going on? Aren't you going to heal her?" Clint's impatient voice came from somewhere behind him.

Loki ignored it, running his hand to hers and holding it close to his chest, his eye fading out of focus as he searched deep within her for what was causing her ailment as if he was ridding himself of disease. Once he found it was simply a healing sleep, due to a exhausted magic supply he relaxed.

Taking her hand to his lips he kissed the skin gently, pouring some of his magic into her to allow her body to restart. It lifted her slowly out of her protective coma. All those on the outside saw however was the glittering wave of green pass from his lips into her skin.

"What was that!" Steve asked, looking more towards loki's lingering touch then the magic.

"Give her to me,"

"Brother? If you have healed the mortal there is no need, we should retire to our-"

"Thor she is my soulmate," Loki said quietly, not looking away from her for even a second, as if she was about to be ripped from him.

"What?" Steve exclaimed, recoiling slightly and bringing Briar with him.

Just at that moment blue eyes blinked open, half lidded as they landed on green, a small smile came upon her tired face and it was the brightest light Loki had ever seen.


	7. Chapter 7

The noise that had exploded into the room after Loki had made his admission was deafening. There where scoffs and noises of disbelief, some of confusion and on Thor's part a very loud noise of assent and excitement.

Now what happened next was a strange parle of sorts. Steve sat down on the sofa and Briar, who was still much too weak to stand on her on sat beside him, with Loki also by her side as Thor explained soulmates to those present, including Briar the soulmate in question.

For once in her life she was very quiet, and her tattoo's where very still.

And she only watched Thor as he explained, and occasionally snuck glances at the handsome man sat next to her, who looked both wondrously happy and in the worst pain of his life.

Thor explained, quickly and with the great smile of a man giving a wedding speech that soulmates where a phenomenon of those of magical birth. Humans, couldn't sense their soulmates (though there was no reason to think they did not have them) but those who dabbled in magic could. It was considered the greatest honour to meet your soulmate, and was punishable by death to hurt ones soulmate.

If someone where to injure the soulmate of a prince perhaps, then the prince in question would be well within his rights by Asgardian law to kill them where they stood.

Soulmates once found had a status similar to that of a husband or wife in their culture. They would court, and when the time came that they would marry they would be the focus of a celebration as the meeting of a soulmate was a rare thing, Asgardians lived long and dangerous lives, and often they would not meet thier other halves for millennia, or would die before they got the chance.

"So, you're saying that he's her soulmate? Whats the proof? What if this is some sort of ploy?" Steve asked, looking to Loki with mistrust in his eyes.

"Yeah, no offence Zappy but this guy has just been exiled to Earth, it would make a lot of sense for his plotting to come back out in full force," Tony interjected before looking at Briar with a grin "Thats the super secret Avengers task for right now by the way, looking after Reindeer games, though I should let you know considering you are definitely a full member of the team. I know, I pay for everything so I get to decide,"

Briar smiled at this.

"My brother would NEVER lie about something like this!" Thor thundered, crossing his arms.

"They don't trust me Thor, its quite fair. But there will be no proof unless she accepts my courtship, and grows to love me in return."

More murmuring grew throughout the room at that, members oft he team looked at each other uneasily, most of them hadn't been in a room together at once since the battle of new york, when they where trying to kill the man so demurely sat in the couch. Steve and Tony locked eyes for a second, and nodded minutely at each other, a silent pact that they would protect their new member.

"You're Thor huh?" Briar asked quietly, causing the room to fall silent once more. Loki visibly tensed, hearing his soulmates voice for the first time was a wonder, but she hadn't addressed him but his brother.

"Yes my lady," Thor smiled kindly at her, his eyes crinkling as he bowed. He looked upon her as someone would a long lost brother back from war, his eyes misty. "I implore you, I speak truly. I would never lie to a lady in the matters of the heart,"

Briar considered this for a moment.

"I will fight you tomorrow. Then I just need to be around for a code green and Fury can shove it up his ass," Briar said with a small grin, standing up, before promptly getting lightheaded and toppling back to sit on the couch again, Loki's worried gaze following her as she did so. "And you-"

Briar looked over Loki once, he straightened out, wishing for a second he knew exactly what he looked like and had known that today was they day he would meet his soulmate. He did not shrink under her appriasing look, but met her gaze, which was neither cold or wary, but simply curious.

"I don't see the problem with a few dates with a handsome man. You would be just as likely to kill me in the living room as in a restaurant. At least this way I can delete tinder," Briar laughed.

"You would accept me? And my courtship?" Loki asked, both surprised and hopeful.

"I will expect you to romance me in whatever way you think will work. If this soulmate thing is for real i'm sure you would be able to convince me to go on a date with you all on your own. Now! Thanks everyone for the concern, I just tuckered myself out thwarting a bank robbery! Imma go take a nap, and ill be bright eyed and bushy tailed to kick some thunder god ass tomorrow!" Then Briar looked at Thor again "or perhaps loose a fight in a cool enough way I get to join the team,"

"Briar are you sure you can-" Steve started, standing to offer her help, noticing Loki mirroring him on the other side, albiet silently.

"Ill be fine Steve, I used to just pass out in a bush when I got like this. Sleep for an hour and ill be good."

"Briar-"

"Night eveyone!"

"Goodnight," Everyone bid her, including Loki as he watched her go.

As Briar slowly made her way to her room, stroking patches of skin in a bid to calm all of her protective and nervous creatures, she thought back over the beautiful man who had looked so kindly at her in the living room. She was still woozy over her overexertion, she hadn't fallen unconscious from using her abilities in at least five years, but then again she had rarely conjured creatures bigger then herself in that time, let alone two such massive ones.

In hindsight it might have been overkill for a bank robbery anyway.

Flexing her hands she resolved to work on her stamina more. She recovered quickly, she wasn't lying when she told Thor she only needed an hours sleep to regain her strength, but fainting after only a five minute battle would quickly become an issue on missions.

As she entered her room she slowly lowered herself into bed and gently released her spider monkey from her side. It chittered around her for a few moments, nuzzling at her. She patted it while she thought about the issue at hand.

Loki.

First and foremost he was considered persona non grata here on the team, that much was evident. She had gathered from the team that HE was the one responsible for the attack on New York about a year ago (the globe at large just knew it was an attack from beyond the planet, and that it was a singular event) she was loathe to consider him evil based on this, though it did raise a fair few questions on his mental state and general personality.

Secondly, she had never heard of this soulmate thing except in her romance books, and as lovely as it sounded, it seemed almost too good to be true. But Thor had seemed so honest and excited as he explained it, and Loki had seemed every bit the kind and handsome romantic lead that the notion of such a thing painted him as. However as Tony had pointed out it could be an act.

But oh how she wished it wasn't.

She wasn't completely sure that she would like him, she had barely spoken two words with the man and the fact she found him handsome that had a lot less to do with their compatibility and a lot more to do with random chance. She supposed that if this all went well it would be possibly the most exciting adventure she was yet to have, and it had the best type of magic she was yet to know, love.

As Briar fell asleep and Loki did the same (in his remarkably less interesting or comfortable room, as Tony had decided to leave him with a particularly bare suite since he had the chance to) they both simultaneously decided that this was the start of a very interesting new chapter.

Briar's morning went quite the same as normal. She brushed her teeth, donned her clothes, used one of her creatures to make the bed in a summoning and dexterity command based exercise, and grabbed her sketchbook.

But the averageness of her morning came to a halt when she opened her door to see a single flower laid on the ground. It was a striking gunmetal blue, a colour she would describe as akin to the colour of her eyes if she was a romantic.

Which she was.

And attached to the flower was a ribbon of green silk and a short note, beautifully written in a hand so theatrical and delicate Briar slipped it into her sketchbook to use as a guide for her lettering later on.

"I find you beautiful and beguiling. My affections would urge me to seek you out and court you, however I would not do so without word from my lady. Pray, wear this ribbon in your hair if you return my affections, if I see you without it I shall understand, and will regretfully admire you only from afar."

Briar felt her cheeks grow warm and immediately ran back into her rooms. She placed the flower on her kitchen table and changed her outfit to a green sundress that went with the ribbon she used to tie up the top part of her long brown hair. After checking herself in the mirror a few times she grinned and walked down for breakfast, quite excited for the day ahead.

She saw Loki almost immediately as she walked in the room dispite half of the Avengers already being up and in various states of breakfast eating around the table. It seemed they all rose early today for some reason, which one who was not quite so happy as Briar that morning mught deduce as worry and caution over the recently 'converted' villan in their midst.

Loki looked up, and seeing the green flash of silk in Briar's hair, smirked.

Briar sent a quick wink his way and made herself a bowl of porridge, getting to work drawing a portrait in her sketchbook of the man who was watching her. She wanted to be able to stare, to analyse him, and the best way to do that in her mind was by drawing him.

The graphite began to give way into the visage of his face, and he noticed her attention on him almost immediately. He straightned up, and resumed flicking through his book in the most nonchalant way possible.

Natasha looked at the pair of them and decided they where both ridiculous.

"Where's Thor?" Briar asked Steve, who was leaning against the kitchen unit with a cup of coffee like usual. He was in his running clothes, and quite obviously finished his morning run before settling into the kitchen to give Loki the stink eye.

"I think he's still in bed?" He replied, his eyes sliding from Loki to Briar.

"JARVIS? could you please let Thor know when he wakes up i'd like to fight him in the training room?" Briar asked sweetly, putting the finishing touches on her sketch of Loki as she ate.

"Oh wow, punch up between lightning god and Doc? Count me in! Tash? Whose your money on? Wanna bet?" Clint asked, sitting cross legged on the tabletop with his bowl of cereal, gesturing with the spoon.

"Hmmm," Natasha looked at Briar with a calculating look, causing her to look up and immediately start flexing and preening, puffing her chest up to make herself look more intimidating. "Thor,"

"Hey! What happened to girls stick together?!" Briar protested, immediately forgetting her demure and mysterious demeanour around her new love interest in favour for arguing her case.

"I never promised anything," Natasha said with a smirk, sipping her drink "fifty on Thor,"

"I gotcu Briar, ill take that bet!" Clint called out, shaking Natasha's hand vigorously before stage whispering to her "you better win!"

"I will!"

"I don't know, yesterday a bank robbery made her pass out. Thor's been fighting for years," Natasha explained.

"I'm weaker but i'm fighting for something, Thor will be fighting for honour, ill be fighting for a place here. Strength might win the battle, but conviction will win the war," Briar nodded decisively, before hopping off of her chair and snapping her sketchbook shut. "Ill see you guys in a bit!"

The team watched her go with a shrug and continued eating and getting ready for the day, Steve and Clint both discussing the ins and outs of the statement she had made, as Loki looked at the door she disappeared out of.

"She had magic, this much I know, but how powerful is she?" He asked quietly to the room, not directing it at anyone in particular, but the last person her would have thought to answer spoke up.

"She's pretty powerful, ill assume you will come and watch the fight. But I highly doubt she's got the sort of magic you will be able to manipulate," Natasha said, not looking at him.

"Good. She'll need the surprise to best Thor, he's been playing with my tricks since we where children. I don't wish to get my meaning twisted, I want to know she is powerful so she can hold her own, not to take her power from her." He looked into the eyes of the spy, his face calm and detached as it had been the entire time she had known him, except from his first meeting with Briar. "I would sooner give her all the power in my body then take a shred of her protection."

Natasha held his gaze for a minute then shrugged, nudging Clint out of his sitting position to get good seats for the fight that was bound to happen, leaving Steve to the god's devices.

Briar immediately found herself walking towards the lab. She knew both Bruce and Tony had separate labs, but they where separated by soundproof glass, and since neither scientist was at breakfast, they where most definitely together working on something. Bruce usually at least had a cup of tea before starting in the mornings.

"Hi guys," Briar greeted as she walked in, JARVIS had become a fast friend of hers and although she was not allowed access to all rooms, she was permitted in whenever another person with clearance was already in the room.

"Briar! I thought you'd be having kinky sex with the love of your life by now? Whats wrong? Not horny enough for you? Let me guess, too horny!" Tony rambled, not looking up from the microscope he was examining as Bruce facepalmed behind him.

"Well gee I was gonna let you run tests and everything but since all you seem interested in is my sex life I guess ill just leave," Briar said as she turned around and started walking dramatically out of the room.

"I don't even do the whole biology thing! Thats Banners gig!" Tony yelled, bluffing.

"Good to know you aren't interested in my magic, otherwise you would be distracted from your work with the cool magic fight i'm about to have with THOOORRRR," Briar teased, hearing Tony straighten up and start backtracking immediately.

"Wait, magic fight? With Thor? Oh man we could do before and after readings, check on refractory periods of your powers... fucking cool dragon..." Tony looked torn. "Ok! Fine! I'll leave it alone for now!"

"That's all I ask. This is going to be a weird enough situation as it is without you making it worse," Briar said, sitting at a stool and offering Bruce her arm for a needle.

"How are you feeling about all of that anyway?" Bruce squeezed Briar's hand before even starting to get the needle out. He still wasn't a big fan of PDA but Briar was one of the only people in the tower other then Tony he really spoke with, and wanted to give her at least a speck of reassurance.

"Conflicted,"

"Conflicted how?" Bruce asked, focusing on the task at hand and sending a quelling look at Tony that Briar missed.

"I know what he did, and I know that it all sounds crazy, but I want it to be true you know?"

"Why? Isn't it a bit much to be tethered to someone for life? Especially someone with as many screws loose?" Tony asked anyway.

"It's, hard to explain. Love's the best thing in the world right? That's what everyone says. And as far as I know, it's pretty true. Family love, the real fort of love you get from friends and all that. Wouldn't it be the most amazing thing to have been given the best romantic love of your life? Just handed to you? And you know that they will love you and be faithful and be perfect for you because the universe picked them out?" Briar gesticulated with one hand before placing it over the cover of her sketchbook and lightly caressing its cover.

"I mean it sounds like a scam to me-"

"You're right, that does sound lovely," Bruce interrupted Tony.

"And I know he could be faking, but if Thor says it's a real concept at least, isn't it worth the chance?"

"I suppose that depends on what you're risking," Bruce sagely replied, removing the vial of blood and cleaning the wound on her arm, looking for a plaster.

"Not much, I don't have the expectation of a soulmate, it's no worse then a blind date I guess. Hey can I have a cool one? Do you have like an Iron man one?" Tony grinned and pulled out a little first aid kit from the wall and applied a Iron man themed plaster to her arm.

"Pepper had the building installed with first aid kits in every lab, and in most of the living spaces too, but obviously I made sure everything was branded appropriately," Tony smugly grinned.

"I should get some better plasters," Bruce cracked a smile, laughing at Tony's hurt expression.

"Excuse me Miss, but Mr Odinson had woken up and is requesting your presence in the training rooms immediately,"

"Game time,"


	8. Chapter 8

Hi guys! Thank you all so much for the reviews, they really make me want to keep writing this story and not abandon it to the wastes of fanfiction hell! This one is dedicated to nightshade6335 not only for alerting me to the problem with the chapter 5's upload but reading and commenting along the way! I hope you guys enjoy this one too!

Briar stood in the training room opposite Thor, bouncing on the balls of her feet and swinging her arms back and forth as Thor raised his fists. They had agreed that they could both use magic, but no Magic hammer.

"Are you sure about this Briar? I'm sure Thor will let you in with just a demonstration," Steve's voice rang out over the intercom and Bear looked over at the group stood behind the bulletproof glass looking out onto the hall.

Briar gave him a stink eye.

"Ok but dont you at least want to change? Fighting in a dress seems like a bad idea," Steve continued, his worried voice vibrating around the room making Briar sigh and stop bouncing for a second.

"I need as much skin as possible to work with, plus, nice and mobile! Don't worry Steve look!" She pulled her dress up to reveal lycra bike shorts underneath "I came prepared i'm not going to flash anyone!"

Steve's face darkened to a deep red and he sat into the chair behind him, his hands covering his face. Briar smirked for a second before locking eyes with Loki, the very handsome man who was looking at her, holding her skirts up. She paled and dropped her skirt, making Tony in the next room laugh.

"Ok Pervy Pete you ready?" Tony asked, his voice still full of laughter.

"Count us in!" Briar yelled, pulling her hair back into a ponytail and tying the ribbon securely again, determined not only to get a place in the Avengers, but also to look good doing it.

"1!"

Thor clenched his fists, grinning a happy smile at Briar and leaning forward.

"2!"

Thor's smile got a lot less happy and much more demented, Briar crouched low and splayed her fingers out, her hands in front of her.

"3!"

Suddenly the distance between her and Thor which has seemed huge previously was small, Briar wondered if they would have a nice funeral for her.

"Go!"

Briar slammed her hand into her collarbone, the huge tiger springing forth and attacking Thor, who immediately dropped to the ground and put his huge hands under its head, holding its neck as he jumped onto it, forcing it onto its back.

The cat hissed and clawed at him, its talons digging deep scores into his flesh but he subdued it, punching it in its face as it struggled to get free. Briar ran forwards and grabbed onto the back to Thor, putting him in a chokehold and trying to cut off his air, but failing due to her lack of strength.

Thor flung her forwards over his head, but the second he was not engaging with the cat let it get a good bite at his hand. Briar stood again, the spot where she had dented the floor coloured with spots of blood from her forehead.

She called the cat back and with a smile pulled her dress up, touching a tattoo on her stomach that she wore like a belt. Suddenly a huge python was circling Thor, cradling him in a crushing embrace.

Thor, grinning a bloody smile grabbed Briar, and pulled her tightly to him. The python hissed and stopped its contractions, knowing that to crush hThor would be to crush Briar.

Briar fought against his grip but found she could not move, she summoned her python back into her, allowing her the strength to just slip from Thor's grasp long enough to begin to circle him again.

He lunged, and this time instead of summoning a creature she punched him straight across the jaw. Thor head butted her in return, causing her to spit a mouthful of blood, dazed.

He rushed her again, starting to pull her down and hitting her in the side. In pain and desperation Briar tried something she hadn't done much of, and pressed her hand to the tiger once again, letting her body tear and reform as claws grew in the place of her fingers, and her mouth filled with razor sharp teeth.

Thor laughed for a second, starting to trade blows with her, she threw her head back and laughed, her slightly too pointy teeth flashing and her tattoos swirling on her skin. She pounced onto Thor and bit into his shoulder, spitting both his blood and hers into the air as she was flung from his back by an electric shock.

Both panting and bleeding they giggled, the tension in the air diffused with the slight smell of burnt ozone.

"So, God of thunder! Did I get an A+? Do you want me on your side or should we go another few rounds?"

Thor propped himself up onto his elbows, a wide smile on his bearded face. He sprang to his feet and offered Briar an arm that she took, pulling her to her feet and into the air. She landed and laughed, surprised at the giant man's strength. Her teeth sunk back to normal with a wince, and her claws receded into her hands while the tiger on her collarbones preened.

"I would be honoured to fight by your side lady Briar!" Thor yelled.

"Brilliant, now it's just you doc, feel like you need to let off some steam? Wanna ask big green and mean if he wants to come out for a social call?" Briar yelled towards the glass at the kind doctor but making eye contact with Loki as she spoke.

Loki looked at her with soft eyes, he bit his lip as he looked at the small trail of blood stemming from her mouth. Briar followed his eyes and poked her tongue out and licked it clean, getting a definite reaction from the god. She watched as he straightened up and froze momentarily.

"I think I'll take a rain check," Bruce said with a good natured chuckle. Opening the door to the corridor.

Briar and Thor went their separate ways, and the rest of the team slowly filtered out of the room, leaving Loki and Briar alone. Tasha was the last to leave, patting her on the shoulder and whispering to her as she went by.

"I'll be listening nearby, yell and I'll come and kill him." She muttered, before starting an argument with Clint who was demanding that she pay her part of the wager.

"You bet that Thor would win! He didn't!" Clint protested, but the sounds of their disagreement faded as Briar looked at the man in front of her.

"Are you hurt?" Loki asked quietly, taking half a step forward in the manner of someone trying not to spook a frightened animal. He seemed to know that he shouldnt approach her, to keep his distance, but he couldn't. He moved towards her like she was the centre of his gravity. Whenever he was in the room he was always at an advantageous position towards her, in her line of sight.

"Stupid question, I just got into a fistfight with a god," Briar grinned "I diddn't loose though." 

"No," Loki said, his eyes twinkling "You definitely didn't lose,"

"I liked your present, I especially liked the flower, if I didn't know any better I'd think someone had a little crush on me,"

"I'm glad you know better then, this is most assuredly more than a little crush." He raised his hand to her cheek, moving as if he were to touch her face gently, to wipe a smear of blood from her creamy skin, stopping short and clenching his fist, drawing it back to his chest.

"Good, I'd have hoped so considering I'm supposed to be your soulmate," Briar reached a hand forward and took his clenched fist in her own. She pressed his now open palm against her cheek and closed her eyes. "Your skin is cold," 

"Yes,"

"You know what they say though," Briar opened an eye slyly "Cold hands warm heart,"

Loki grinned and let his magic flow through his palm, checking over the minor injuries she had to her person and healing them. Normally even these wounds would have been enough justification for him to beat his brother to death but she had wanted a true fight. And looking at the wounds he felt a surge of affection towards his bumbling brother. He had most definitely been making sure to be careful during the fight. Something he knew not to be easy for him.

"I'm glad you think so dear," Loki said as the small cut on her lip knitted itself back together.

"Nope, you can't use that nickname," Briar declared.

"And why praytell, not?" Loki asked amused.

"You took all the dear for yourself when you showed up in golden antlers,"


End file.
